IAMAI-IMRB study quotes 37 million urban Internet users for September

Youth and small towns are leaders in pedalling growth, and are prospective converts from 'ever' users to 'active' users

According to & #BANNER1 & # joint study by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IMRB International, Internet users in India have reached the 37-million mark in September up from 33 million in March. In the last six months, the number of 'active users' has risen from 21.1 million to 25 million.

The primary survey was conducted in early 2006 among 16,500 households covering 65,000 individuals across 26 major metros and small towns in India, with additional coverage of 10,000 business and 250 cyber cafe owners. The survey did not include rural India.

Findings reveal that youth are leading in terms of Internet usage in India. College students and those below the age of 35 are the biggest consumers. Both these segments have the highest proportion of conversion of 'ever' users to 'active' users of Internet.

Other contenders are smaller cities and towns that have recorded a growth of 142 per cent per year, and now account for 25 per cent of all Internet users.

Also, the study speculates on the 'ever' user base. It estimates an Internet user base above 40 million by March 2007, when the 'ever' user base is likely to hit 42 million and the 'active' user base is likely to hit 28 million. By March 2008, the 'ever' user base should touch 54 million. The 'active' user base would reach a staggering figure of 43 million users by the same time.

Commenting on the survey, Subho Ray, president, IAMAI, says, "Considering the rapid growth of the Internet business and the government's massive e-governance programme, it called for number-crunching. This will aid business decisions on part of the industry as well as better resource planning by the government."

Mohan Krishnan, V-P and country manager, eTechnology Group@IMRB, says, "New-age media and applications such as blogs, P2P, video-on-demand and online gaming will create growth, while favourites like e-mail, chat and IM will drive first-time users to the medium."

In Internet parlance, 'active user' is a widely-used category to define users who have used it at least once in the last 30 days. The numbers are a result of the largest 'offline' survey so far carried out in India to estimate the 'ever user' and 'active user' categories.